Top 5 Foods to Avoid in Prediabetes for Better Health

What is Prediabetes?

The word ‘diabetes’ often rings alarm bells. But did you know there is a stage before diabetes called prediabetes, during which the blood sugar levels in the individual are high but not high enough to be termed diabetes?

It is considered prediabetes when:

• HbA1c is between 5.6% to 6.4%
• Fasting blood sugar levels between 100 to 125 mg/dL
• Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) (Checks for blood glucose levels two hours after a 75 g glucose drink): 140 to 19 mg/dL

Most often, people are not aware of their prediabetes state and get diagnosed accidentally in health checkups. It is important to know that prediabetes can be controlled and brought into remission by following a healthy lifestyle and dietary habits.

In this blog, let’s check out the top 6 foods to avoid in a prediabetes condition.

Top 5 Foods to Avoid in Prediabetes

Ingredients like sugar, jaggery, oil, ghee and other high-caloric foods lead to weight gain, increasing your risk for chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and heart diseases.

Here are some foods to avoid with prediabetes and prevent prediabetes from progressing to diabetes:

1) Sweets and Desserts

One of the first groups of foods to avoid with prediabetes are sweets. Sweets and desserts like ladoos, puranpoli, barfis, cakes, tarts, puddings, etc., are prepared using refined sugars and saturated fats (ghee, oil, dairy).

They are high in calories and are linked to type 2 diabetes, inflammation, obesity and heart disease. These foods cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

2) Bakery products

Most bakery products, like bread, biscuits, nankhatai, cookies, etc., are made from maida (refined carbohydrate). These refined carbs have a high glycemic index because they are digested quickly, causing an immediate spike in blood sugar levels.

Also, since these foods are low in fibre, they have low satiety, making you hungry shortly after eating.

3) Fried snacks

Fried foods like chakli, chips, other fried snacks, samosas, batata wada, potato fritters, etc., are loaded with saturated fats. These foods increase weight, cholesterol and triglyceride levels. These factors increase the risk for type 2 diabetes and must be strictly avoided by people with prediabetes.

4) Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB)

Sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, fruit juices, sports drinks, and energy drinks contain sugar and are, infact, a leading source of added sugar in diets. Studies show that sugar-sweetened beverages cause insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

5) Processed and packaged foods

Another group of foods to avoid in prediabetes are processed and packaged foods.

Processed and packaged foods have infiltrated our homes, and their convenience has found favour with most of us who reach out to them due to our hectic lifestyles.

Ready-to-eat cereals in the morning, ready-to-eat soups, cup noodles, frozen foods, etc., are high in carbohydrates, and processed meats are high in saturated fats. Consuming these foods increases insulin resistance and your risk of developing prediabetes or progression to diabetes.

FitterTake!

Prediabetes is one stage before diabetes, and managing your diet can help bring your blood sugar levels under control. It is important to not just know what not to eat in prediabetes and which foods to choose but to actively follow it.

If you are still unsure about what food to avoid in prediabetes, or not sure how to maintain the plan due to a hectic lifestyle, take a free consultation with Fitterfly’s expert product advisor.

At Fitterfly, our team of diabetes experts, including nutritionists, fitness experts, and success coaches (psychologist), will help you develop a customised plan that will suit your lifestyle and your condition, along with practical guidelines on how to maintain a healthy diet – all with a single goal– to stabilise your blood sugar levels and transform your health positively.

Thousands of Indians have benefited from our program. Visit our website to know more. You can also check out the Fitterfly’s Diabetes Care Program. It might just be what you’ve been looking for 🙂

To speak with us, just give us a missed call at 08069450746, and we will get back to you.